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Nck Greiner company ordered to pay $21m

A company chaired by former NSW Liberal premier Nick Greiner has lost a court case in which it was accused of bid-rigging and deceptive conduct.

Bradken, Mr Greiner and its managing director Brian Hodges have been ordered to pay $US22.4 million ($A21.65 million) in damages to Swiss group Pala Investments over the revolving-door purchase of Canadian company Norcast.

In a short statement on Tuesday, Bradken said it noted that the Federal Court had found against Bradken, Mr Greiner and Mr Hodges and ordered them to pay damages of $US22.4 million.

Bradken, a NSW-based metals manufacturer, acquired Norcast, a maker of high-performance wear-resistant casting for the minerals processing industry, on July 6 last year from private equity group Castle Harlan.

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However, Castle Harlan had only had ownership of Norcast for a matter of hours before on-selling it to Bradken.

Bradken bought Norcast from Castle Harlan for $217 million, but seven hours earlier Castle Harlan had bought the business from Pala for $190 million.

Pala claimed that Bradken, which was a competitor of Norcast, used Castle Harlan as a front and that if Pala had known it was dealing with Bradken, it would have insisted on a higher price and different terms.

Pala also claimed that, in using Castle Harlan as a front, Bradken and Mr Greiner and Mr Hodges infringed Australian law, including prohibitions on bid-rigging and unfair or deceptive conduct.

Mr Greiner, Mr Hodges and Bradken on Tuesday all advised that they intend to appeal the decision.

Mr Greiner is also a director of Castle Harlan's Australian affiliate, CHAMP.